Soon: House To Vote On Ending Record-Long Government Shutdown

26:54Colonel Cedric Layton, thank you so much. Appreciate it, sir. We're keeping a close watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, where members are setting the stage for a vote that could end the government shutdown. We're going to talk about this and another economic problem, the U.S. possibly going into recession. That's next. Health insurance protected and extended throughout 2026. It is unconscionable that what we are debating right now is legislation that will... Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.

27:31It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Default terms at mintmobile.com. Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set. Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up.

28:07Oh, you need a new grill too? Alright, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast expert setup on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. Our money lead now with the federal government shutdown seemingly on the verge of ending. Seemingly. Wall Street closed last hour with the Dow above 48 ,000 for the very first time. The S &P 500 showing some minor gains. The Nasdaq dropping. Joining us now to discuss all of this, financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. You may recognize him from CNBC.

28:44And he, of course, just wrote a new book getting critically acclaimed great reviews. It's called 1929 Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation. Andrew, your book details the U.S. economy before the 1929 market crash leading to the depression. You warn, in your view today, stock market mirrors conditions in 29. So do you think we're indeed on track for some sort of crash and how soon? I don't know if we have to have a crash per se, But I do think that there's a lot of things going on in the economy today that look a lot like the late 20s, potentially look like the late 90s.

29:24And so invariably, that means that we're likely to have some form of a correction. How big a correction, how deep is always the big question. And when? It's one thing to be a Cassandra and say this is all going to happen. It's another to be able to say it's going to happen tomorrow. I don't think it's going to happen necessarily tomorrow. I think actually this could play out for a little bit longer, in part because so much money is coursing through our economy in the flow of artificial intelligence investments. And that doesn't seem like it's going to abate for any time. The real question, of course, is, you know, whether at some point all of these folks that are pouring all this money into this space can continue to afford to do that.

30:03And that's when the rubber potentially could meet the road. So 10 days ago, I interviewed Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, and I asked if he thinks that we are heading for a recession. Here's part of what he had to say. I think that there are sectors of the economy that are in recession, and the Fed has caused a lot of distributional problems with their policies. If the Fed brings down mortgage rates, then they can end this housing recession. What are your thoughts? Look, I don't know if we're headed towards a recession. I assume he was also referring to potentially what the government shutdown could do now that that is hopefully going to be over soon and fixed.

30:46I don't know if we get into a recession. I do think we have a real conundrum. And he, of course, would like the administration would like lower interest rates. The conundrum is we have an employment picture that's getting weaker. That part is demonstrably true. And so you'd think you'd want the Federal Reserve to try to prop that up by raising by lowering rates. But it's not clear that that would actually do the trick in this case, because the reason we're losing losing jobs is much more complicated than that. And at the same time, you have inflation, which has been persistent. Now, the inflation picture is coming down a little bit.

31:20There's sort of decelerating, but prices are still elevated. and especially in food and another, a lot of items that we all know about. When you go to the store, you know that they're more expensive than they used to be. And so if you wanted to get that problem, you'd want to raise interest rates to push the price. So the problem is you're sort of stuck if you're the Federal Reserve and you're stuck to some degree for this administration in this moment. A new AP poll suggests that 67 % of the American people are not happy with President Trump's handling of the economy. Now, President Trump has said that these polls are fake.

31:54He claims that prices are way down. Meanwhile, obviously, inflation is up. Most grocery prices are up. Fewer first-time home buyers. The president's floating this 50-year mortgage as an option to save money. What is your response to this 50-year mortgage idea? Look, I mean, conceptually, the argument is that it should allow people who can't afford a home to get into a home at a lower monthly cost. The conundrum is it doesn't really lower the price of housing. Right now, what we have in this, the problem we have in this country is a supply problem. That is the fundamental problem. And the other problem is if you extend out that loan for 50 years, first of all, there's a lifetime issue.

32:38But beyond that, there's just the fundamental question of when the 50 years are up, or even if you were to own the home for 30 years, it could be that the first 20 or 30 years, you're getting no value from all the money that you're putting in because it's basically just interest payments. So it doesn't really change the dynamic of the housing situation and potentially could create a whole bunch of other problems. Andrew Ross Sorkin, thanks so much. It was fun to be able to pick your brain and steal you from CNBC for a second. Jake, this is fun. Once again, his new book, it's critically acclaimed.

33:12It's selling all over the place. It's called 1929, Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation. The great Andrew Ross Sorkin, thank you so much. Great to have you on the show. Everybody go buy his book. The beginnings of a dramatic night on Capitol Hill start right now with the House of Representatives gearing up for that vote that could potentially finally end the government shutdown. Keep it here as this plays out. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Speaker, this funding deal is why Americans lost a.

33:48Our politics lead. We're just moments away from a key House vote that sets up an end potentially to the 43 day government shutdown. Let's bring in CNN anchor and senior analyst Audie Cornett, as well as CNN political commentator from the dispatch, Jonah Goldberg. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, we should note, has taken a beating from a lot of House Democrats. Ro Khanna from California is calling for Schumer to be replaced. Not all House Democrats are piling on. Take a listen to Congressman Hank Johnson from Georgia. I don't think it's wise for Democrats to engage in a circular firing squad.

34:25disagreed with some of his strategies in the past, but he's very knowledgeable about what Democrats can accomplish in the Senate. And his job is to herd cats, to try to make that happen. I don't think there's anybody at this point who's better qualified to do it other than Chuck Schoenberg. Jonah, do you think the Democrats accomplished anything with the shutdown fight?

34:56Um, yeah, I kind of, I kind of think they did. I think Chuck Schumer didn't do much for himself, which was really, I think, his primary motivation. Um, but, you know, the Democrats changed the messaging on this stuff to health care, which was generally good for them. The polling still seemed to back Democrats on all this. I don't think it should have. I mean, the actual position of the Democrats, I thought, was unbelievably incoherent. but you know I think they came out of this about as good as they could Chuck Schumer is terribly bruised it doesn't really matter what House members say about him and he's not going to get ousted whether he runs again is another question but you need like half of the Democratic caucus to vote to oust him as leader and that's just not going to happen Speaking of what's next for Schumer progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

35:53There's been a lot of talk about whether she's going to run statewide, challenge Schumer, maybe even run for president. She was asked today about how Schumer handled the shutdown. Here's some of what she had to say. This is not just about Senator Schumer. We have a cycle coming up with many primaries, not Senator Schumer's, but many Senate primaries that where voters are going to be deciding between candidates. And my hope is that in places like New Hampshire, in places like Illinois, and in other places that we send fighting Democrats to the United States Senate. Speaking of primaries, are you considering primary income?

36:27He's not up for... He's up in 2028. But he's not up for election this cycle. So she mentioned New Hampshire and Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Senator Gene Shaheen of New Hampshire. Those are two of the eight Senate Democrats who joined with Republicans to end the shutdown, and they are both retiring next year. Audie, Democrats just not some big election wins now that the shutdown's over and the party seems somewhat divided and all this. Do you think that these fights, the circular firing squad, as Congressman Johnson referred to it, do you think this has taken away the Democratic momentum?

37:07You know, Jonah has actually talked about this before with me, this idea of this new matrix of what makes for a fighting Democrat, your style of fight, how aggressive you are, versus your ability to get things done and these other kinds of skills that obviously are still required in the Senate. I'm interested in the fact that the congresswoman mentioned those states not just because they're up and that's where people are retiring, but she's trying to signal that it doesn't need to be only blue states. It doesn't need to be only very progressive places. She immediately, I think, is trying not to be pigeonholed as it's just a kind of a New York thing and say that there is a certain kind of fight that will be demanded now and required by primary voters.

37:53And Jonah, the last thing Speaker Johnson wanted to talk about today was the Epstein files, even though the House Oversight Committee released 20 ,000. How significant are these new emails, the ones that you've had a chance to look at? Well, they, I said they're there. They seem to be, you know, you never know what you're seeing sort of out of context and all that kind of stuff. I've long thought that it was very unlikely that they would find anything criminal in any of this, because not because I think Donald Trump is a saintly figure or anything like that, but that that stuff would have leaked.

38:28There are a lot of people in the FBI and the Biden Justice Department. And I just assumed that if there was anything that could have been truly used against him in the court of law, it would have come out by now. But it's pretty clear that at the very minimum, it's embarrassing stuff. And the Trump White House very clearly, I mean, they're having a meeting in the situation room with Lauren Boebert to try and talk her out of supporting the release of all of this stuff. they're clearly worried about the optics of it. And it seems like they should in a way that I kind of didn't expect. Yeah, I'm the same way because they also had so many weeks to go to these lawmakers and say, hey, by the way, we don't want this petition to come forward.

39:16And it feels like there's more effort going into this than there was with the government shutdown. A new CNN film this weekend features New Zealand's former prime minister, Jacinda Ardern and Audie. You spoke with the prime minister, the former prime minister, separately about the tone of politics right now. Let's play a little bit of that conversation. I think we make a mistake to assume that what people want is what they engage in. You know, I think that we engage, it's human instinct. We engage in those things that cause a human emotion, a reaction that cause rage. And so I think that is one of the issues we have.

39:56Those things that we click on are the things that then we more will be written about. We will continue to read about. And yet what we miss are those politicians who are out there grafting away, trying to solve problems, trying to build consensus. We don't spotlight that anymore. anymore. And yet I do still believe instinctively that's what people are looking for. Audie, that's an interesting diagnosis. I don't know if she's talking about New Zealand there or the U.S., but rage bait is certainly a big problem here in the U.S. It is. Towards the end of her term, there was some backlash to pandemic quarantines.

40:30There were Trump signs in New Zealand. It became a sort of symbolism of the backlash to what was seen as a kind of progressive overreach on issues around COVID. But following the AOC tape that we just heard, it's also interesting. What does it mean to fight? What does it mean to draw attention? Is there a way to do that that still feels very sort of human and empathetic without those things being seen as weaknesses? Audie and Jonah, thanks to both of you. That new CNN film is called Prime Minister, and it debuts Sunday at 9 Eastern, only here on CNN. CNN's Manu Raju is coming up next with some brand new reporting from Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives sets up that final vote to end the government shutdown.

41:11Stay with us.

41:18Back with breaking news coming up ahead of the shutdown vote. A victory today for the effort to force a House vote to compel the Justice Department to release the full Epstein files. CNN's Manu Raju is back with us. And Manu, you have some new reporting about the Epstein files. What is it? Yeah, I just spoke to Congressman Thomas Masson. He is leading that effort to force a vote on the House floor. And he made very clear that now that there are 218 signatures to force this vote on the House floor, nothing, that vote will absolutely come to the floor. You cannot, if you have signed that petition, remove your name off of this petition and that the vote is expected to happen.

41:57And I asked him about his now, the push now ahead of this vote, which will happen after Thanksgiving. We expect it to happen in the first week of December. He said the goal is to get enough Republicans to get a veto-proof majority in the House. And how many Republicans do you think will vote for this on the floor? Well, I've already had a couple Republicans tell my office privately that they're going to vote for it. And I think that could snowball. You know, the deal for Republicans on this vote is that Trump will protect you if you vote the wrong way. In other words, if you vote to cover up for pedophiles, you've got cover in a Republican primary.

42:37But I would remind my colleagues that this vote is going to be on your record for longer than Trump is going to be president. And what are you going to do in 2028 and 2030 when you're in a debate, either with a Republican or a Democrat? And they say, how can we trust you? You covered up for a pedophile back in 2025.

43:00And the goal for Thomas Massey then, Jake, is to get 70 House Republicans to vote for this and divide the president. Of course, that is a very tall order. But nevertheless, a big vote will happen in the House to release those Epstein files first week of December, Jake. All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. The Breaking News tonight. convicted sex trafficker and infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump multiple limes by name in private emails over the last 15 years, according to a new batch of Epstein-related documents released earlier today by the House Oversight Committee.

43:39The documents reveal emails Epstein sent to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who's also been convicted of sex trafficking, and author Michael Wolfe, in which Epstein alludes to Trump having spent hours at Epstein's house with Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein victim who took her life earlier this year. Although we should note, Giuffre said in a 2016 deposition that she, quote, never saw or witnessed Donald Trump participate, unquote, in the sexual abuse of minors, and that she had not seen him in the house of Jeffrey Epstein. Another message from Epstein to author Michael Wolff suggests that Trump, quote, knew about the girls, unquote.

44:19Now, President Trump, of course, has never been criminally charged or even accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein or Maxwell. Although, of course, his relationship with the convicted sex offender has spawned scrutiny and intense public outcry for years. President Trump earlier today posting on social media that the Democrats are trying, quote, to deflect on how badly they've done on the shutdown. and, quote, only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap, unquote. The flood of information comes just as any moment the House is set to take a key vote, setting up the final move to reopen the government and end the longest government shutdown in American history.

45:01With some Senate Democrats facing backlash from their House counterparts and from Democratic activists all over the country for the deal that they struck to get here. Let's go to CNN's Caitlin Collins, who is at the White House for us. Caitlin. Markable emails just in and of the fact that they are from Jeffrey Epstein mentioning Donald Trump multiple times in this private correspondence, private until now, of course, over the last 15 years or so, where Jeffrey Epstein is emailing back and forth with Ghislaine Maxwell and the author Michael Wolff and saying things like what about what the president knew at the time, of course, long before he was president.

45:40as Jeffrey Epstein said in that first email that was sent in April 2011 to Ghislaine Maxwell, where he refers to Trump as the dog that hasn't barked, Jake, and then references what was redacted by House Democrats, the name of Virginia Giuffre, who, of course, is one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent accusers who died by suicide earlier this year. And Ghislaine Maxwell responded, as you can see here, Jake, and said, quote, I have been thinking about that, dot, dot, That came a few years, I should note, just for context for people who are looking at it, after Jeffrey Epstein negotiated that sweetheart deal that he got in southern Florida when he only served a couple of months in prison on prostitution charges instead, of course, what we later saw him face in 2019.

46:24That was the date of another email that Jeffrey Epstein and Michael Wolff, the author, had been sending back and forth, including when Donald Trump was in office the first time where they were talking about Trump's denials, about knowing about Epstein and saying that he had kicked him out of his Mar-a-Lago club. That is something that Jeffrey Epstein himself disputed, according to these emails, Jake. And so obviously this has caused a huge amount of backlash here in Washington because it's further inflamed an issue that was already dividing the White House and some MAGA Republicans when it came to how the Justice Department has been handling its release, or not release, I guess I should say, of their Epstein documents, Jake.

47:01And certainly the White House came out today. They said these emails proved that Trump did nothing wrong. The question really is what Republicans on Capitol Hill think about that. So in the House of Representatives, you need 218 signatures on what's called a discharge petition to push and force any legislation onto the floor of the House, even if the Speaker of the House opposes it, which Speaker Johnson opposes this bill to tell the Justice Department to release all the Epstein files. You and your team had a big scoop today about a meeting that took place in the White House about that discharge petition.

47:37Yeah, Jake, it was basically a pressure campaign that backfired spectacularly, where the White House was really putting the screws to Republicans and trying to get them to take their names off of that discharge petition, Jake, so it wouldn't reach those 218 votes you mentioned. And the two people that we were told they believed were the most likely to take their names off of it were Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace, two Republicans who months ago said they would support that. And Lauren Boebert herself was called here to the White House, had a meeting inside the Situation Room with the Attorney General of the United States, the Deputy Attorney General and the FBI Director.

48:09That was who was planned to be there. And we saw two of those three here at the White House today and planned to have that meeting inside the Situation Room where basically, Jake, they were going to try to convince her to remove her name from the discharge petition. And that included a phone call from President Trump to Lauren Boebert as well. But Jake, it did not work because Lauren Boebert did not remove her name from that discharge petition and that's why it reached 218 names after Adelita Grijalva was sworn in tonight. But Jake, I want you to listen to what the White House said earlier when they were asked by another reporter about this meeting that we had reported on and found out what's happening here at the White House today.

48:45Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? Doesn't that show our level of transparency? Doesn't that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns? That is the that's a defining factor of transparency. Having discussions, having discussions with members of Congress about various issues. And I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room, in the press briefing room. So, Jake, the White House says it shows transparency.

49:17It also displays a very unusual move by the White House to gather that kind of firepower here at the White House with a Republican House member to have a meeting like that. That is something that is very unusual and you often do not see. Maybe if it was a chairperson of a committee or something like that, you would see that level of a briefing. But certainly it just speaks to how much the White House did not want that discharge petition to reach those 218 votes like it did tonight, Jake. All right, Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks so much. And don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins.

49:50Tonight, she's going to be joined by Republican Congressman Thomas Massey and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna. Those are the two behind the Epstein discharge petition. That's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Let's bring in right now the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, California Congressman Robert Garcia. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. So why did the Oversight Committee Democrats choose to release those three emails earlier today before the full House Oversight Committee released 20 ,000 documents? Well, it's because we think Republicans wouldn't have ever released those documents.

50:27So House Republicans and House Democrats on the Oversight Committee all got those documents on the same day, just a few days ago. We've been working to redact those, to remove the victims' names, to go through 23 ,000 documents. But we also know it's important to get all these documents out to the public. So we released those documents today. We released an additional set of documents, of which Steve Bannon had some communication with Jeffrey Epstein. And once again, we are pushing and forcing the House Republican Oversight Committee to then release documents to join us on the subpoenas. And so we're glad that the Republicans released those documents.

51:00We're also planning on releasing all of those as well. And so we want to continue to get to the truth. And we once again need to ask is why is Donald Trump covering this Epstein scandal file up? And why would he release the files today? It's a good question. I wish I had an answer for you. I want to play something that Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell told the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, who used to be President Trump's private attorney, personal attorney. This is what she had to say about Trump during her sit down interview with Todd Blanche in July of this year. Take a listen.

51:35I think they were friendly, like people are in social settings. I don't think they were close friends. I certainly never witnessed the president in any of, I don't recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance. I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. in the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects. Now, it is interesting to note that this email we're showing right now from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell directly references Virginia Giuffre, one of the victims who took her own life earlier this year, spending hours at Epstein's house with Trump, to which Maxwell says, I have been thinking about that.

52:30Now, we should note again that Jufre herself said in a 2016 deposition, I don't think Donald Trump participated in anything. That would have to be another assumption. I never saw or witnessed Donald Trump participate in those acts. But was he in the house of Jeffrey Epstein? I've heard he has been, but I haven't seen him myself, so I don't know, unquote. It's a lot of conflicting and contradictory information. How is the Oversight Committee planning to move forward with regards to Ghislaine Maxwell? Well, look, I think a couple of things are important. Ghislaine Maxwell is, first of all, a monster.

53:01What she has done to children, to women and girls is horrific. And this idea that the Department of Justice is now giving her special treatment, that she's having meetings apparently in this new facility, which is much less restrictive than the one that she's supposed to be in, I think should be an outrage to all Americans. We want Ghislaine Maxwell in front of the Oversight Committee to answer our questions. There are reports now that she wants a commutation. It's clear that she wants a pardon. It's also very clear through the release of emails today that she understands the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

53:35There was definitely and certainly a relationship there. And what we're saying is all of this can be cleared up today if Donald Trump and Pam Bondi would release the files that he campaigned he would do during the election. The attorney general has said they are on her desk. Why the secrecy? Why the cover-up? Why the extraordinary effort today to stop this vote of the Congress to get the files released? And so this only brings up more questions. And I think that the American public, both Democrats and Republicans, and everyone in between, just want the truth and answers, that we can get all of that immediately if they would just release the files.

54:17Congressman Robert Garcia, Democratic California, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Thank you so much for your time today, sir. Appreciate it. Let's bring in Liz Stein. She's one of the survivors of Epstein's abuse. She's now an advocate for the anti-trafficking movement. First of all, Liz, how are you doing? This has got to be a rough and traumatic day, I would think. It's been an extraordinarily emotional day. Thank you for asking, Jake. But it's also been a really important day. So, yeah, no, it's a significant day. And I'm wondering what your reaction has been to the news today, the documents that have been released.

54:53I think that, you know, anything that we see that's released brings us closer to the truth. Right. And I think that in releasing these emails this morning, it really is just driving the point home of how badly we need this information released. We need the government to release everything that's in these files, of course with the appropriate redactions to protect the privacy of the survivors, but we really need this information to be out there so these crimes can be investigated. I think it's really upsetting to us that this is so politicized when it's not a political issue. This was a crime and it's a crime of sex trafficking and we really just want to see justice for the crime that happened to us.

55:42There, there's interesting comments made by Epstein and Maxwell in these emails. Um, Epstein referring to Donald Trump as the dog that didn't bark, which some people interpret like he has information, but he hasn't shared it. I don't know what, what Epstein meant, of course, uh, saying that he knew about the girls, um, uh, because, uh, you know, because of the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell, uh, recruited, um, Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago. I know you talked to a lot of your fellow survivors. What are you hearing from them today? What is the consensus? What are some of the thoughts and feelings that you've heard?

56:18There has definitely been a renewed sense of hope and a definite sense of joy among all of us. Both myself and Jess Michaels were privileged enough to be on the House floor during the swearing-in. And there was a moment where Gravala actually called us out by name and everyone stood and applauded us. And, you know, she didn't have to do that. But we really just appreciated the support. Let me just interrupt for one second, Liz. We have that clip. This is the swearing in of Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who was the 218th signature on the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

57:02Here's that clip. Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice. This includes the millions of people across the country who have experienced violence and exploitation, including Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels, both survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. They are here in the gallery with us this evening. Thank you for being here. I just wanted people to see what you were talking about. Please continue. Thank you. It was just an incredible moment for us to see her sworn in and to see her sign the discharge petition. It's something we've been waiting for for 50 days, and it was really wonderful to just see it in person.

57:50Lastly, as you know, we've been reporting all day about this pressure campaign from President Trump and the White House, especially there are four House Republicans who have signed the discharge petition. And obviously Thomas Massey is not going to blink. It's his discharge petition. But of the other three, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert, those three congresswomen, Republican congresswomen, were told that Mace and Boebert are really being pressured. Boebert was called to the White House where she met with the deputy attorney general, the attorney general and the FBI director, who apparently want them to remove their signatures from the discharge petition to release the Epstein files.

58:31What's your what's your message to Nancy Mace and to Lauren Boebert? Well, first of all, I really just want to thank them for being steadfast in their support of us. You know, it takes a lot of courage for them to break with party lines and to support us. And they're doing that because they know that they're on the right side when they are in support of us. And I think that I'm hopeful that their courage is contagious to other Republican members who can also see that this is this is really a matter of looking at a crime. And it's it really should not be in any way influenced by any particular administration.

59:14This case has been ongoing throughout five administrations of both political parties. And like I said before, what we're looking at is a crime and it is crime of sex trafficking. This is not a political issue. So they're right in their support of us. Liz, I always say it and I'll say it again. It's incredibly brave of you to come voluntarily on to international television and talk about the worst experience of your life. Thank you again for your advocacy and thank you again for your courage. We always appreciate it so much. Thanks, Jake. These things happen because we don't talk about them and I appreciate having a platform to do that.

59:57Well, you always have it on the show. You always do. Right now, the House is starting a key vote as they prepare for the final vote tonight to end the shutdown and reopen the government. Will this vote pass tonight and head to the president's desk? We're going live to Capitol Hill next.

1:00:18And our politics lead right now, lawmakers in the House of Representatives, as you see right there, are taking their last key step required before voting on legislation that would end this historic government shutdown. And maybe this should be breaking news, too. We have discovered that bipartisanship is not dead. It is alive and well. Let's talk about that with Democratic Representative Sam Liccardo and Republican Representative Kevin Kiley, both from California. They just voted. They both represent California. And they are introducing a bipartisan bill to extend these Obamacare premium tax credits for two years that has been, for the Democrats at least, part of this debate.

1:00:59Congressman Kiley, is there a sense of urgency among Republicans, or at least enough Republicans, to pass legislation to do something about keeping health care costs affordable for constituents? I think there is. There's a lot of folks on our side of the aisle who are extremely concerned about the prospect of this massive increase in premiums for a lot of our constituents. And so you've had a number who have come out publicly and said that they want to see some form of temporary relief. And I think that the proposal that Congressman Ricardo and I are offering is a great compromise because it provides this temporary time-limited extension, but it does so in a way that actually has reformed such that we don't increase the deficit in the process.

1:01:41And just to give an update on what's going on on the right side of your screen, folks at home, the rule has passed and now it is an open for debate. So they're going to be debating this bill, this legislation for an hour, and then there will be a vote on this legislation. It is expected to pass, although it's a narrow majority the Republicans have. Back to this bipartisan legislation. Congressman Liccardo, walk us through the basic outline of your bill. Who would it affect and how? Well, Jake, as Kevin described, this would extend the tax credits for two years. So the 22 million Americans who would otherwise see their premiums double will at least have those concerns squarely addressed.

1:02:25But it finds savings in a couple of different ways. We borrowed from both Republican and Democratic ideas a bill from Senator Cassidy in the Senate that would help go at the very high reimbursements that insurance companies are getting from Medicare Advantage. We think a lot of upcoding, an awful lot of study has been done, that insurance companies are really gilding the lily from the taxpayers on upcoding. And so getting at those abuses is critical and can save a lot of money. Congressional Budget Office said about$124 billion over 10 years. And then we're going to go after broker fraud as well with a proposal that came from a Democrat colleague, Deborah Ross.

1:03:03Congressman Kiley, unlike other proposals, you include a plan to pay for this extension by reforming Medicare Advantage by eliminating something called upcoding, which your colleague just referred to. Can you explain more about what that would work and what upcoding is? Yeah. And importantly, this reform is actually supported by the AARP. And it's estimated that this could save 120 plus billion dollars over the course of 10 years. The basic idea is that with Medicare Advantage, the sickness of the patient is what determines the amount that the insurance company gets paid, and there's been a lot of abuse or inaccuracies in this process, such that the patient is initially classified in a way that doesn't reflect their actual diagnosis, and so that means excessive money goes from the public treasury to the insurance companies.

1:03:50So this is also a good answer for those who say they don't like the extension of the premiums because the tax credits go directly to the insurers. This sort of balances that out as well. In addition to, as we've been talking about, our other reforms in addition to this make this fully paid for over the course of the two-year extension. Congressman Liccardo, one of the talking points we often hear is that insurance premiums are going up because of undocumented immigrants. What is the reality behind that claim? Well, undocumented immigrants cannot purchase insurance on the ACA exchanges. They never have been able to.

1:04:23They cannot do so now. So that argument is obviously specious with regard to this particular issue. Yes, in some states there are public dollars that undocumented immigrants can't take advantage of, but that has nothing to do with the extension of these ACA tax credits. Congressman Kevin Kiley and Sam Liccardo, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. We're keeping an eye on Capitol Hill where the House of Representatives is now one step closer to reopening the government and ending the longest shutdown in the history of these United States. Stick with us. We'll be right back.

1:05:00We're closely watching the floor of the House of Representatives. Members are now taking the very final step before voting to end this 43-day-long government shutdown, the longest in the history of these United States. We expect that final vote to come soon. We're going to continue to keep you updated. Meanwhile, a shocking request from President Trump tops our world lead. President Trump wrote a letter, a formal letter, to the president of Israel asking for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be pardoned in a domestic corruption trial. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports on Trump's unusual and repeated requests.

1:05:40Mr. President, why don't you give him a pardon? What began as an astonishing request at the Israeli parliament podium in October now inked onto formal White House letterhead. The president of the United States urging the Israeli president to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, writing, While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli justice system and its requirements, I believe that this case against Bibi is a political unjustified prosecution, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. Netanyahu welcoming the incredible support, writing, as usual, you get right to the point and call it like it is.

1:06:21Trump's attempt to interfere in a sovereign country's judicial system marks an extraordinary breach of diplomatic protocol. But it is also the culmination of Trump's frequent criticism of the case. He first began floating the idea of a pardon for Netanyahu in June, calling the case a ridiculous witch hunt against their great wartime prime minister. You know, we'll be involved in that to help him out a little bit because I think it's very unfair. The Israeli prime minister has been on trial for more than five years. Amid a slew of delays, he only took the stand for the first time late last year, the first sitting prime minister to do so in Israel's history.

1:06:59He is facing charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in three separate cases. In one, he is accused of receiving cigars, champagne and other expensive gifts from wealthy businessmen in exchange for political favors. In the other two, he is accused of discussing quid pro quo arrangements to receive more favorable coverage in Israeli media. Netanyahu maintains his innocence and hasn't asked for a pardon. While the Israeli president does have the power to issue pardons, his office says that can only happen following a formal request from the person seeking it. It's a little risque. I'm bringing up a pretty sore subject in Israel, but the people were fantastic.

1:07:42By wading into one of Israel's most divisive issues, Trump is putting his own sky-high approval among Israelis on the line. Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Trump! In a country where the mere mention of Netanyahu's name To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Oh! Oh! Often triggers a charged reaction. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem. And our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that report. A live look at the U.S. Capitol now where the House of Representatives is currently taking the very final steps before they vote to end the government shutdown. Republicans seem to think they have the votes to pass this legislation.

1:08:24How close might it be? Stick with us. of our most crucial programs. Military construction needs will be met for a full year.

1:08:35In our politics lead, using the FBI's private jet during the government shutdown to visit his girlfriend and fly to a Texas hunting resort called the Boondoggle Ranch. These are just some of the reasons why FBI Director Cash Patel is under intense scrutiny by officials within both the Justice Department and the White House, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The journal writes, quote, the FBI director is required by law to take the bureau's private plane instead of commercial flights in order to have access to secure communications, unquote. If the travel is personal, the director is required to reimburse the government for the cost of a commercial flight.

1:09:11Adding, quote, a spokesman for the bureau said the director has taken only about a dozen personal trips since assuming the role in February and had taken steps to cut down on travel costs. CNN has asked the White House for comment. They pointed to a statement from Caroline Leavitt in The Wall Street Journal saying Trump is, quote, very proud of the work the FBI is doing under Director Patel's leadership, unquote, adding that the president views Patel as a key player on his law and order team. CNN's John Miller joins us. John, you are very familiar as a former FBI official with the inner workings of the FBI.

1:09:44Tell us your take on this Wall Street Journal report. Well, things that are in the Wall Street Journal report, like the FBI Director Kash Patel showing up at a meeting with British intelligence colleagues at a hotel in the UK wearing a green hoodie and a trucker cap, these are things that break with FBI tradition. As far as the plane goes, I mean, there's two issues there. One is the FBI director is not required by law to fly on government aircraft, but there is existing government policy from OMB and the executive branch that says certain officials and the FBI director is one of them should travel on planes with access to secure and classified communications because of their responsibilities and the fact that they shouldn't be out of touch for a five or eight hour flight.

1:10:38The question is, would he be flying to wrestling matches, to his girlfriend's concerts, to the Boondoggle Ranch for four days on government aircraft if it wasn't a Gulfstream 5? That's even if he's paying the coach fare to reimburse the government. So there's a lot in there that affects the image of the Bureau in the eyes of agents who haven't been paid for a while and in the eyes of the public about whether this is the right tone for an FBI director. How do these actions by Cash Patel impact the rank and file of the FBI? Is it demoralizing? Well, that and so much more. I mean, for instance, the flying to see his girlfriend in concert, you know, something the Wall Street Journal did not report, I'm told by my sources, is that Alexis Wilkins, his girlfriend, the country singer, now has an FBI security detail.

1:11:37Now we put that question to the FBI. In general, they don't answer questions about who receives protection or who doesn't. But the question is, is there a specific credible threat? She's not a spouse. She's not a government employee. And the fact that 30 agents that worked on cases, and they don't get to pick what cases they worked on, whether it was January 6 cases, Trump cases, have been fired, that puts a dent in morale. Take a look at this letter from the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, where this was sent out yesterday to members of Congress, talking about the firings. These are career public servants who followed the rules, did their jobs, and told the truth.

1:12:18Now they're being punished for it. That is not leadership, that is fear and politics." That's by Mike Corton, who is the head of the Washington branch of the Society of Former Agents. Now, tomorrow is the big G-Man dinner. That's their annual dinner where active agents and retired agents get together. And every time I've been to that dinner, the FBI director has been the keynote speaker. The FBI director, because of that atmosphere and those firings, is not expected. And we should note that Kash Patel in the past attacked then FBI director Chris Wray for, quote, jetting off on our taxpayer dollars.

1:13:00So he was critical of Ray doing the same thing with his family, not just to see his girlfriend. John Miller, thank you so much. Appreciate it. As the House is now one step closer to reopening the government with a final vote expected this evening, I'm going to be joined by New Jersey Governor-elect and current Congresswoman, Mike Sherrill. That's next.

1:13:27In our politics lead right now in Washington, D.C., the last hurdle before House lawmakers vote on legislation that would end the longest ever federal government shutdown. The bill already passed by the Senate does not include what was at the heart of the Democrats' fight, an extension of the expiring Obamacare subsidies. Democratic New Jersey Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill joins me now. And, of course, she was just elected to be governor of the Garden State. Congratulations on your promotion, Congresswoman. We should note, along with other notable Democrats, you won last week after campaigning to a large degree on the issue of affordability.

1:14:07Right now, Democrats are voting on a bill that does not extend Obamacare subsidies. So health care costs, insurance costs are going to go up significantly for millions of Americans on the Obamacare subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges. How do you square what Democrats like yourself ran on, what seems to be an important issue for Republicans to wake up and pay attention to if they want to keep their jobs next year? And what's playing out on the floor of the House right now? Well, I think, you know, I'm going to continue the fight. To me, this is unacceptable. The people were pretty clear when they spoke in New Jersey that they wanted somebody to fight for them.

1:14:46And so I'm going to keep fighting for affordability to drive down costs. I will keep fighting against all of the attacks coming from Washington. And then, you know, we are going to address the key ways in which Trenton is not working for them either. But this is a travesty right now, to continue to raise prices on people. With this bill, we're going to see prices on the affordable care market go up by almost 175 percent. It's just harming families across the nation and certainly in New Jersey. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a six-week shutdown will reduce the country's economic growth by half from the previous quarter.

1:15:22So there is the argument to you in terms of the pain of the families that rely on food stamps and the pain of those who have been furloughed and not paid for 43 days, not to mention the damage to the economy. me, how do you justify keeping the government shut down one more day, given all this pain? There's no justification. It certainly was time for Republicans to come to the table. I think after last Tuesday, it was pretty clear what the American people wanted. Trump himself said he thought that keeping the government shut down as he did was to blame for Tuesday and the real success of Democrats.

1:16:01And so it was time to come to the table and negotiate and really fight hard for the American people and get some Affordable Care Act support because these markets are going to be so very bad. So to kind of back away in the face of victory, to me, seemed like a really bad idea. In a new memo, your campaign manager offers advice to Democrats on how to follow your lead going into 2026. And he wrote in part, quote, lean into a modern approach to campaign that competes everywhere for every voter with a message relentlessly focused on the issues voters care about, unquote. Many of the notable victories last week, we should also note, belong to candidates younger than me, like you and like Abigail Spanberger and like Zoran Mamdani.

1:16:48We also saw your colleague in the House, Nancy Pelosi, announce her retirement. You were outspoken a year ago in calling on then-President Biden to step aside and not seek re-election. You were the ninth House Democrat to make that call. Do you think it's time for other Democratic older lawmakers to think about making way for a new generation of leaders? Well, certainly, I think if people are standing in the way of fighting for the American people, it's time to consider stepping aside. I mean, right now, we have a crisis on our hands in so many different levels. And if you can't meet that with grit and determination, then it's time to step down.

1:17:25And so as I look to the future, I look to this new generation of leaders that we are seeing step up in the Democratic Party that we saw on Tuesday how compelling these leaders are to voters. And it takes a lot of work and energy. I was speaking to thousands of voters about affordability and about what it was going to take for them to really be successful, about what it was going to take to grow opportunities. And that's why we were able to communicate so effectively, to take bold action to say on day one, I'm declaring a state of emergency on utility costs. This isn't kind of the old ideas of we're going to work on a 10-year plan.

1:18:02This is right now at this moment people want to see leadership that takes on the crisis and meets the moment. And that's what I want to see in the Democratic Party. New Jersey Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill, thank you so much and congratulations again. Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. We're keeping a close eye on the floor of the House of Representatives tonight as lawmakers are approaching that final vote to reopen the government and the longest shutdown. in U.S. history. Stick with us.

1:18:34In our national lead, my friend and CNN colleague, Biana Golodriga and Israeli journalist, Yonit Levy, teamed up to write a new young adult book called Don't Feed the Lion. It's a novel that tells the powerful story of three Chicago middle schoolers who grapple with speaking up when one of their favorite soccer stars makes an anti-Semitic remark. The novel tries to help kids tackle the ideas of hate and bullying, and the story gets rather intense when a swastika suddenly appears on a school locker. Biana Golodriga and Yonit Levy join me now. They're the authors of Don't Feed the Lion. Thanks so much for joining us.

1:19:09So, Biana, I know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask you anyway because I want everyone else to know. What inspired you to write this book? Well, Jake, it was really 2022 when my then 10-year-old son, who's a huge sports fan, was a fan of Kyrie Irving's. and we were going to a Brooklyn Nets game, and there had been a lot of uproar about some anti-Semitic posts that Kyrie Irving had put on X or Twitter at the time. And there was really no apology. There was really no repentance. He ultimately apologized and was suspended for a few games. But my son didn't understand why. Why did he post that?

1:19:49What does it mean? Can I not go to these games? Does he hate us? And I had no answer for him. So I sort of brushed it aside and decided that I'd reach out to the school the next day to talk about what resources they had for Jewish students. This is post George Floyd's murder and all of the social justice resources and attention and investments that were thankfully made for students to understand that they need to speak out against racism and all forms of hate. And yet, when I asked about anti-Semitism, the answer was, you know, we don't really have anything to address specifically for that age group.

1:20:25We wait for them to ask questions in school. And I thought that just wasn't a realistic scenario to have a 10-year-old ask a question in front of their class about anti-Semitism. Yonita and I have known each other for many, many years. And then, you know, that seed was planted to write the book. And then when October 7th happened, Yonita and I were talking and we both knew that sadly we'd probably see another spike in anti-Semitism. and we decided to write the book we couldn't find. Yoni, tell us the origin of the title of the book, Don't Feed the Lion. Well, so, you know, as Biana mentioned, we were talking, I think, every night after October 7th and the sort of heartbreak of what happened on October 7th in Israel and then the sort of tsunami of anti-Semitism in the U.S.

1:21:09and around the world. And very soon after, Biana wrote to me, like, let's do something, let's write a book for children. It was actually on October 20th that she wrote that to me. And we started working on this project. It started like the heart of the story is the grandparents of these two protagonists. There's another protagonist, a kid who's also 13 years old. And the original title was actually I Think I Love You, Talia Kaplan, the story of the grandparents. And then at some point our editor said to us, no 13-year-old boy would pick up a book with that title. So we changed it to Don't Feed the Lion.

1:21:43the origin is one of the lines that the grandfather has. And it kind of means, don't feed the monster, don't feed that kind of hatred, but do something good when something like this happens to you. And I think it kind of tells the story of how kids grapple with this, with this hatred. And I think in the book, and perhaps also in reality, kids know the difference between right and wrong, sometimes more than adults do. So I'm a little older than both of you. I did not experience anti-Semitism at all growing up. And unfortunately, my kids cannot say the same thing. Biana, this is just the new reality in the United States and other parts of the world.

1:22:26What's the one thing you would like children to take away from this book? That there's a resource for both Jewish children and non-Jewish children. It's also important for their parents and teachers. For whatever reason, we don't have enough time in this show to talk about why so many adults think this is a very difficult, polarizing conversation to have. And so they tend to sweep it under the rug. This book isn't for anti-Semites. This isn't for the iniquities of the world. These are for people that, you know, they don't condone anti-Semitism, but they're not addressing it head on. And I think that's sort of what's led to this, sadly, being an acceptable reality that, you know, a swastika here or there is covered up.

1:23:07Maybe they talk about it at school the next day and everyone moves on. And this is a subject matter and an issue that needs to be addressed and needs to be condemned and needs to be spoken about, even some of the difficult conversations, the same way we talk about other forms of hate against other minorities as well. Yeah. The book is a must, must read for your kids. Bianna Golodryga, Yonit Levy, thank you so much. Best of luck with the book. Thanks, Jake. Thanks for the blurb. and don't miss out on the ninth annual homes for our troops celebrity auction which helps build specially adapted custom homes for wounded veterans just a few of the items you could bid on this year on ebay a guitar signed by john bon jovi tickets for a taping of real time with bill maher along with a meet and greet a signed poster from the superman movie and so much more you can find more information at ebay.com slash hfot hfot homes for our troops aaron burnett out front starts now.